"Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
-- George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Israel Nukes

It made sense at first, but nowadays the rote denial of Israel's nuclear capacity seems like just another stupid diplomatic pas de deux. Everyone knows, and pretends not to know. Where's the upside?

JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister spent Tuesday trying to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle, after a slip of the tongue in an interview was interpreted as confirming Israel has atomic weapons — widely assumed to be true, but never officially acknowledged.

In an interview with a German television station broadcast Monday, Ehud Olmert appeared to list Israel among the world's nuclear powers.

Asked by the interviewer about Iran's calls for the destruction of Israel, Olmert replied that Israel has never threatened to annihilate anyone.

"Iran openly, explicitly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map," Olmert said. "Can you say that this is the same level, when you are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel, Russia?"

Speaking in Germany, Olmert denied Tuesday that he had outed his nation's nuclear program.

"Israel has said many times — and I also said this to German television in an interview — that we will not be the first country that introduces nuclear weapons to the Middle East," Olmert said. "That was our position, that is our position — nothing has changed."

I mean, we all get that even a tacit admission by Israel would seem to provide cover to insane mullahs seeking to legitimize their own nefarious ends. But they're already doing exactly that.

"Israel has said many times — and I also said this to German television in an interview — that we will not be the first country that introduces nuclear weapons to the Middle East," Olmert said. "That was our position, that is our position — nothing has changed."

Interesting choice of phrase on Israel's part, and a none-too-subtle warning that maybe some of the jerkier autocrats in that area would do well to pay heed to, if they're actually interested in de-escalating the violence. They can detach their misgivings about Palestine policy from whether or not the world need medieval loons with nukes, if they're serious about it.